A student-centered intervention program to educate and retain knowledge in stroke education and healthy habits

Abstract

The goal of the stroke intervention programs was to increase knowledge in stroke awareness and healthy habits. Most of the existing school-based didactic stroke education intervention programs have not been very effective in improving learned information. We developed a student-centered or active learning educational pedagogy to improve the retention of learned knowledge on stroke issues and healthy habits. Middle school students, ages of 11 to 14 years attending a public school in the stroke belt were recruited to participate in an intervention program to raise stroke awareness and promote healthy habit. The impact of the intervention program on students' knowledge post-test and three weeks following the intervention was evaluated. Middle school students at all grade levels were aware of the cardinal symptoms of stroke, demonstrated basic knowledge of the salty foods in the post-test, and knowledge of learned information increased significantly after three weeks post intervention. The three weeks follow-up test revealed a significant increase in stroke knowledge among the 6th, 7th, and 8th grades [F (2,109) = 134.65, P = 0.001]. Post-hoc pair-wise comparisons analysis revealed a significant difference (P < 0.05) between the 6th, 7th, and 8th grades. In an active learning or a student-centered stroke and healthy life style educational program, middle school students perceived the intervention program as fun, instead of primarily educational and this allowed the learned information to be retained even three weeks after the intervention.

Effect of the Preparatory School FAST Stroke Educational Program

“…For long-term awareness, such educational programs should be followed by cognitive and behavioral interventions to sustain the change in attitude. 11,16 This is supported by the finding that the percentage of students who completely achieved their personal risk reduction health goals at the long-term posttest was only 21.5%, compared with 43.2% who did not achieve their goals completely and 35.3% who did not achieve their goals at all. Moreover, this finding suggests that a greater emphasis needs to be placed on helping students to recognize the importance of addressing their modifiable stroke risk factors (eg, increase exercise, not smoke, maintain body mass index around 25), identify strategies to change unhealthy behaviors, and then sustain needed behavior change.…”

“…In addition, students' attitude toward stroke showed a significant improvement at the immediate posttest (intermediate test); however, the attitude score returned to baseline after 2 months. For long-term awareness, such educational programs should be followed by cognitive and behavioral interventions to sustain the change in attitude 11,16. This is supported by the finding that the percentage of students who completely achieved their personal risk reduction health goals at the long-term posttest was only 21.5%, compared with 43.2% who did not achieve their goals completely and 35.3% who did not achieve their goals at all.…”

“…Given the high prevalence of stroke in our community, it is imperative to target school population regarding recognition of stroke symptoms. Research further shows that school education is an effective tool to enhance the awareness toward stroke symptoms and healthy lifestyle among children 11,14,16. To our knowledge, no previous studies with this population have been conducted in Qatar.…”

“…Research further shows that school education is an effective tool to enhance the awareness toward stroke symptoms and healthy lifestyle among children. 11,14,16 To our knowledge, no previous studies with this population have been conducted in Qatar. This study was designed to evaluate whether an educational program for preparatory school students improves their knowledge about stroke signs and symptoms, modifiable stroke risk factors, treatment-seeking behaviors, and attitude toward seeking early treatment and reducing risk factors.…”

Empowering critical thinking skills by implementing scientific approach-based models among various students’ ethnics

“…The pairwise comparison between learning models in each ethnic type was shown in Table 5, and the trend of the effect was shown in Figure 2. Through implementing SAbM, students are facilitate to develop their thoughts and ideas and work together with friends to solve a problem (Nurhasanah, Arasti, Susanti, Rumperiai, & Hindun, 2020;Wormack et al, 2019). A learning environment that enables the empowerment of critical thinking skills allows students to apply critical thinking skills (Petchtone & Sumalee, 2014).…”